connors for "nbc10 @issue." pennsylvania, new jersey, and delaware have all legalized medical marijuana. pennsylvania is the most recent state to allow it. and the law calls for up to 50 dispensaries. there's growing interest from people looking to get started in the industry. joining me is the founder of greenhouse ventures. greenhouse ventures helps businesses get started in the cannabis industry, whether it's medical marijuana or legalized recreational marijuana. your company of course is based in center city, philadelphia. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> give us the ins and out of the new law from a business standpoint. >> so governor tom wolf signed it into law two weeks ago. it essentially sets up a legal/medical cannabis market, restricted to tinctures, oils, and pills. there's going to be 25 cultivation facilities, 50 licenses rewarded with up to 150 store locations. so good opportunity to start off with. but it's a lot of room to grow too. >> talk to us about it. you've helped other businesses in other states get started. so what kind of money are we talking about here? >> so greenhouse specifically deals with companies on the facility side of the industry, so none of the companies we deal with will have a direct relationship with the plant. for those who want that direct relationships, they're looking at $5,000 for dispensary application fees. you have to have 35 in a bank account, show 150,000 in escrow. for the cultivation side you have to have upwards of $2 million in escrow. it is an expensed industry to get involved in. >> so people who don't have that kind of money, they want to get involved, they're not connected to the industry, how do they do it? >> it's networking, really. you can't get a loan from the bank because the federal government doesn't recognize this industry. it is restricted to the fact that if you don't come from a steady financial background or have people in a network to bring that kind of money in, it's difficult to apply for a license or a dispensary license. on the flip side, there's a lot of ancillary parts of the industry. >> fringe businesses. >> you're essentially taking a black market industry and legalizing. there's security, there's software, there's technology, data, all the way down to packaging and paraphernalia and accesso accessories. there's a lot of opportunities on the ancillary side. >> in terms of who is interested in doing this, there was a conference in philadelphia just the other week which you attended. who did you see there? >> greenhouse hosted the conference at chemical heritage last saturday. there was a wide range of people from boston to d.c. it consisted of medical professionals, business professionals, and entrepreneurs who are in the space or are interested in making a move into the space. >> it's interesting that you brought in people from boston to down south. people from other states want to come into pennsylvania and get involved. >> absolutely. that was one of the biggest surprises to me too, there's a lot of outside interest that's already active, early in pennsylvania. i thought the interest would come as the market matures and develops. it's a big opportunity. we're the sixth largest state in terms of population. we could be the number one or two state next to florida in terms of medical market for cannabis. there's a lot of interest. >> would we see companies that are already established, say in california, new jersey, delaware, closer to pennsylvania, medical marijuana is legal. come into p.a. and try to get in on the action? >> i think you will. the fear is when big pharma or big tobacco comes into an industry. to fight that, you want to build a brand, and the best way to do that is to expand beyond your home state to other states. we'll see a lot of already existing dispensaries from out west to our neighboring states try to get a license. >> we're talking about a lot of competition here. >> yes. >> if you're joe smith or joan smith and you want to get involved and you want to figure out how can i break into this, what are the steps you have to take? >> it's knowing what your strengths are specifically. so just because someone's coming in with experience out west doesn't mean you can't get involved, because essentially this is agriculture. if you have any type of experience in agriculture that you've been doing, it's an easy transfer over, you're still growing a plant. that speaks volumes. if you can show that what you're bringing to the table team-wise is a qualified team, because in the end it's about the team and what the team can do and how the team can lead the business. if your team is a vetted team that has experience relevant to what you're trying to do, it's helpful. >> is this a political game too? >> for sure. it's going to be regulated city by city, town by town. everything will be different. being friendly with your local government will always help. regardless if they're friendly or not friendly, states or companies in that are friendly with their governments will get a heads up on what's going to happen. >> it is illegal, federally speaking. how does the federal government play into all this in terms of potential bank loans or even just banking your profits? >> that's the biggest problem. the federal government has taken a hands-off approach, letting states act on a state by state basis. because they're still doing that, you can't work with banks. that's one of the biggest problems in the industry. it keeps growing and maturing and expanding, but you still can't get banked access. come november, we may have a tipping point where many states in the country have medical cannabis, but you still don't have a banking solution. it's coming to a point where the federal government will have to make some type of stance on it. an industry can't grow and expand if you can't bank regularly. >> so if you're not getting loans from the bank, how can people raise cash and get investment? >> it's all personal funds, angel investors or the venture capital fund that have been set up specifically for this industry. again, raising money from those guys too is a difficult task because everyone's trying to do it. these guys are flooded with deals day in and day out. it really comes down to, again, you're team. they have to believe in your team, that the team is the one to carry it forward. >> would you describe the cannabis industry as the new gold rush? >> i would, just because -- but i think like the gold rush, a lot of people rushed out to try to find gold. the people who made a lot of money were taking axes and levi jeans. >> what kind of money are we talking here in terms of profits? >> for which side? >> both sides. >> for example, colorado in 2015 alone saw over a billion dollars in sales in legal cannabis. right there is a perfect example of what a mature market looks like in just one year with both recreational and medicinal sales, that's huge. their economy is benefitt eing m it too, tourism, real estate are going up. it's helping out their economy over there. >> in terms of other businesses, in gold rush terms, people selling the picks and the axes, what's the profit look like there? >> those are all -- it's tough just because it's such a new industry. so there's not a lot of exact numbers on a lot of these companies, because a lot of these ancillary companies operate still in industries outside the cannabis industry. but you do see some, especially on like the technology side and med tech side that are establishing a name for themselves, just because the technology is so fard behind, where cannabis is at now, just because it's been illegal so long. that's something we touched on at the conference, we had two technology panels. all those guys are saying, the technology is so far behind where it should be for this plant because they're finally allowed to work with it. i think that's where the real opportunity is going to come to, because there's a lot of -- right now patients have limited sources of consumption, just because, again, it's new, they're sticking to -- i mean, just now, vap orizers are starting to pick up. >> in pennsylvania, you still can't smoke it. >> exactly. as the technology comes in and more sophisticated people from outside the industry come in and get involved, you'll see more opportunity. >> one last thought, you mentioned earlier if people have a background in agriculture, that may benefit them in terms of trying to get into the industry. do you have to have any kind of medical background to be involved in this? >> in pennsylvania you don't have to have a medical background to apply. but you have to have a medical professional on your staff. you have to have a doctor in your dispensary with you. either that doctor will be on some type of payroll as an employee or the doctor will be part of the team. you do have to have some type of medical professional with you on staff. >> tyler, thanks so much for being with us, we appreciate it. parents don't want to see their new baby in distress. one local mom says she's asking others to pause before agreeing on a common medical procedure done on baby boys. next, we'll hear from a group that claims circumcision is medically unnecessary and that the parents are being pushed into the procedure without knowing the facts. circumcision is not often talked about. but the american academy of pediatrics says it's one of the most frequently performed procedures in the world. one organization says it's time to rethink circumcision, calling it medically unnecessary. on its web page the american academy of pediatrics says, the benefits outweigh the risks but the benefits are not great enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision. the group goes on to say, therefore, because the procedure is not essential to child's current wellbeing, we recommend the decision to circumcise is one best made by parents in consultation with their pediatrician. we have a mother from the philadelphia area who calls herself a regret mom, she regrets the decision to have her son circumcised. thank you both for being here. georgeann, let's begin with you, why did you start your organization? >> thank you for having us on. i started intact america with a group of other people who believe as i do that there are way too many reasons against taking a newborn baby and cutting off part of his body. we believe it's a violation of human rights. we know it's medically unnecessary. the american academy of pediatrics in fact has come out more recently with an even more clear statement that it's not medically necessary. we think that baby boys have the same right to their whole body that everybody else does, baby girls. i'm an attorney, i also have a long career in public health and health care. i felt like this was a human rights issue whose time had come. that's why i started intact america. >> and you have an emotional story as it relates to your son. >> absolutely, rosemary. the moment that circumcision was brought up was probably the worst moment that it could have been brought up to me as my son was laid on my chest. not once was it discussed during the entire prenatal care with my obstetrician. it was not brought up once. we had no discussion, no informed consent discussion. >> did you even think about it? prebirth, was it even something that had crossed your mind? or you were just taking the lead from your doctor? >> well, it did cross my mind, and immediately my instinct told me no, that would hurt, no, it's not necessary and doesn't need to be done. and i just kept on with it. >> so you've just given birth, your son is laying on your chest and this is the moment that you say your doctor, your care providers, because it up? >> he said to me, you're circumcisi circumcising, right? at that moment i was dumbfounded. i was caught off guard. these were the first moments with my son. and it was a very precious moment. those moments were taken away for him just coming out like that and having had no discussion prior. it threw me for a loop. >> so then what happened? >> so then i nodded my head. i looked at my partner. and he just looked away. and the doctor said, all right, well, dr. such-and-such will be in tomorrow and he did my son, and he'll do great, he won't feel a thing. and i still didn't want it to be done. but the next morning, i was woken up around 7:00 by a different doctor standing over me with a clipboard and talking fast, and saying oh, it's better, he won't feel it, it will be quick. and i was overwhelmed at that moment. i hadn't slept in three days. i was induced for high blood pressure. and i was overtaken. and i ended up signing consent forms. hadn't had a discussion about what the procedure entailed or anything. >> but you regret it because you say you believe your son suffered real trauma? >> yes. he did suffer trauma. he was nursing wonderfully right after he was born. and the whole night, the next day, when they took him away, when they brought him back, he was pale. his eyes were puffy. and he developed a hernia from screaming so hard, an umbilical hernia. i let out a real strange squeal that i had never heard before. my heart sank. i new at that moment i failed my son. >> we start out saying, people don't talk about about this, and we need to talk about it. this is the most commonly performed completely unnecessary pediatric surgery in this country. the rest of the world, european countries, asia, they don't do it to babies. parents are really blindsided often. there are more and more parents, thanks to our organization, thanks to people like nicky who are speaking out, thanks to you for having this program, people saying that's not going to happen to me, or it happened once and not again. it's a very common sorry. >> georgeann, you said it's really for you a human rights issue. it sounds like for nicky it's more of a trauma to her son issue. is there research to back up that there are long term effects from having your son circumcised? >> there are studies that are decades old that show that circumcision causes terrible pain for babies. people who say babies don't feel pain, any mom knows a baby feels pain. there are recent studies including earlier this year that show the effects of pain on a newborn can last for not just hours, but actually months and years. >> you certainly had plenty of followers online, 50,000 people that are following you on facebook. but you also have some critics too who say you're hijacking science and you're a fringe group. >> there is no science behind circumcision. the doctors who promoted it made claims that it prevented insanity, mental retardation, tuberculosis, hip displace shah. medical circumcision has had a long list of claims for it, all of them have been debunked. there is simply no science behind it. the most recent version of the journal of pediatrics says very clearly that circumcision is a cultural -- one of the members of the task force on circumcision says clearly it's a cultural surgery, the medical reasons are not compelling, the science has died. there never even was the illusion of it, it's died. and it's simply an issue of treating babies as the full human beings with a full set of rights they have. >> georgeann and nicky, thank you both for sharing your insights, we appreciate you being on the show. we should mention the benefits of circumcision according to webmd are a 14r50i89 lower ri slightly lower risk of urinary tract infections and other problems. doctors say those problems are uncommon. find out next about a plan that could open up a new lane for drivers without even having to build it. ce company offers guaranteed acceptance life insurance to men and women ages 50 to 85. i talk to customers every day who are concerned that they won't qualify for life insurance due to their health. they worry about leaving behind funeral expenses and unpaid medical bills for their loved ones. but i'm proud to tell them that a policy from colonial penn can help with their insurance needs. many people struggle financially, worrying about paying their bills. i explain that we offer coverage starting at $9.95 a month and our whole life insurance, it's an affordable way to help the final expenses. that gives them peace of mind without going over budget. applying for insurance can sometimes be confusing and overwhelming. but it doesn't have to be. at colonial penn, we make insurance simple. i'm alex trebek. call now about colonial penn's guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance. this plan is affordable, with coverage options for just $9.95 a month, less than 35 cents a day. they have a rate lock guarantee. that means your rate is locked in for life and can never increase. and your acceptance is guaranteed. you cannot be turned down because of your health. don't wait, call for your free information now. (soft music) ♪ (colonial penn jingle) the summer season will be here sooner than later of you know what that means. sun, sand, and traffic. we've all been stuck in traffic trying to get to the shore and mountains. we've wondered, why not take the shoulder? one day you may be able to do just that. join me about penndot's plans is ken mclean. thanks for joining us. i should start by mentioning, my grandmother, i would drive down with the shore with her when i was a young girl. you would see somebody cruise up the shoulder. i would say, why can't we get on the shoulder? she said, it would generate uncharitable thoughts in the other drivers, so we did not do that. that's stuck with me. but one day people may be able to do it. >> one day. it's an initiative that penndot is looking at seriously right now. we have an active study going on looking at active traffic management going on on major interstate expressways such as the blue route, and the schuylkill expressway. >> which we know can get backed up. >> it absolutely does. philadelphia, it's like the fifth largest metropolitan area in the country. >> you always hear people say, why isn't there an extra lane on the schuylkill? this could be a way to resolve that. >> absolutely. you don't have enough funding to build ourselves out of the the congestion problem. so we're looking at building extra capacity on the highway. >> you're on 76, you're on the blue route. how do you know you can get over to the shoulder and use it? >> we would be implementing a series of technology additions to the highways as they exist today. basically what it would do is during your morning rush hour and your evening rush hour, it would have overhead signs that would show like a green arrow, that would permit motorists to utilize the shoulder as an additional lane. >> obviously we're talking about rush hour morning, and at night when people are going to work, heading home from work. what happens if a car breaks down, has to get over, use the shoulder because they need an emergency repair response? >> as part of this initiative, we will have pull-off areas roughly every half mile. so a car would be able to seek refuge in that emergency pulloff. >> a cutout or pocket. >> pretty much. >> and less construction than having to build a new lane all together. >> absolutely. >> so first things first, you have to get the money. >> absolutely. $60 million. we should hear sometime in september. >> thanks so much for being with us. we'll be right back. that's it for this edition of "nbc10 @issue." you can join me every saturday beginning at 5:00 a.m. and on sunday beginning at 5:30 a.m. have a good one, happy mother's day, and a good week. ññyñññçwçwñwñwñww?qoówvoó (male narrator) on today's special paid presentation for cindy crawford's new meaningful beauty ultra, brought to you by guthy-renker, you'll discover the secrets to not only aging gracefully, but beautifully while looking your absolute best every step of the way. i think my philosophy on aging is really more my philosophy on living, which is just do it well, take care of yourself. it's about celebrating where you are and being the best you that you can be in that moment. then it's not aging, you're just living. (female narrator) in the next few minutes, some of the world's most inspiring women will share with you the secrets to looking as young on the outside as you feel on the inside. (valerie) i am 54 years old, and i feel like i have that little extra oomph that i need because my skin looks good. i love my skin now. i love it. there's no question that my skin is better now